Iran: We have a side deal with P5+1, too

posted at 8:01 am on January 14, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Of course they do, but for the moment it wouldn’t matter anyway. The West so far won’t release the text of the “informal agreement” signed with Iran this week to supposedly settle its nuclear adventurism, which gives a pretty good whiff of retreat. The US says it’s the EU balking at releasing the main text:

The text of an agreement reached Sunday to implement the interim nuclear deal with Iran is not available to the public because the European Union is not releasing it, the White House says.

“The EU is not making the document public,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said on Sunday.

Asked why the document was not being released, EU foreign policy spokesman Michael Mann said that he will “have to ask about that.” Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, was closely involved in the talks in Geneva that brought around the interim nuclear deal.

World powers reached an agreement this weekend to implement the interim deal reached with Iran in November to curtail its nuclear program in return for some sanctions relief; the terms of the deal are now scheduled to begin on Jan. 20. According to Reuters, Iran will receive the first $550 million in now-unblocked funds on Feb. 1.

So Iran gets $550 million and a side agreement? At least that’s what they claim, although they’re not releasing the text of the agreement or side agreement yet. The LA Times’ Paul Richter explains (via Power Line):

When officials from Iran and the world powers announced that they had completed the implementing agreement, they didn’t release the text of the deal, nor did they acknowledge the existence of an informal addendum.

In the interview, Araqchi referred to the side agreement using the English word “nonpaper,” a diplomatic term used for an informal side agreement that doesn’t have to be disclosed publicly.

The nonpaper deals with such important details as the operation of a joint commission to oversee how the deal is implemented and Iran’s right to continue nuclear research and development during the next several months, he said.

Araqchi described the joint commission as an influential body that will have authority to decide disputes. U.S. officials have described it as a discussion forum rather than a venue for arbitrating major disputes.

Richter provided a later update with a denial of any such secret protocol from the State Department. What Iran described, State claims, was a technical plan for implementation of the informal agreement … which is still secret, but might be shown to US lawmakers. Presumably this will include the “technical plan for implementation” that Iran considers a side agreement. On the other hand …

Ray Takeyh, an Iran specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Iran and the other six countries may have written the nonpaper to record understandings that they didn’t want to release publicly. The governments may plan to release “just a short text, with broad principles and broad strokes,” Takeyh said.

The US Senate has already balked at this new push to let Iran off the hook for its clandestine efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Handing the upper chamber a few vague talking points and urging them to “trust us” is probably not a viable strategy for the White House, but it may be better than showing them the full text of the agreement. The Senate wouldn’t have to take action on an informal agreement until it develops into a formal treaty, but they can vote to impose sanctions on Iran if the White House plays coy.

Why do I get the feeling that the new agreement amounts to something as effective as this?

Gee, that’s so triumphalist that it makes me wonder whether Iran’s also worried about the agreement coming fully to light. Their hard-line extremists might find something very unpleasant in it, and this sounds a lot like an attempt to pre-spin things.

Blowback

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Since the Obama administration has screwed up every single thing in which they’ve involved themselves, it’s an easy bet to take “screw up” and give away the points.

It’s only a matter of time, I guess, before we find out that this deal is so bad that we are now actually paying for the cost of developing the Iranian nuclear capability. So, you’re welcome Tel Aviv. And New York. And wherever else the mullahs try to call forth the twelfth Imam.

The US Senate has already balked at this new push to let Iran off the hook for its clandestine efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Hey Ed,

What’s this clandestine nuclear weapons program that you are referring to? According to US intelligence, Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been dormant since 2003 and that Iran hasn’t made any decision to pursue a nuclear weapon. Why is this fact always omitted in Hot Air’s headlines?

The same Europeans who were all in favor of Hitler fixing their “Jewish problem”, plus the Obama Party leaders who spent twenty years clapping and cheering to Jeremiah Wright blaming the Jews for everything wrong in the world, give everything it wants to a regime whose stated goal is eradicating all Jews and wiping Israel off the map.

According to US intelligence, Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been dormant since 2003 and that Iran hasn’t made any decision to pursue a nuclear weapon.

antifederalist on January 14, 2014 at 8:29 AM

And Al Qaeda is on the run and GM is thriving. I don’t know if you’ve been a coma for the last five years or not but one thing is absolute fact. Obama is a liar. A lazy shiftless stupid liar. He just shucks and jives through life with a media willing to hide the true depths of his ignorance and extent of his lies.

What’s this clandestine nuclear weapons program that you are referring to? According to US intelligence, Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been dormant since 2003 and that Iran hasn’t made any decision to pursue a nuclear weapon. Why is this fact always omitted in Hot Air’s headlines?
antifederalist on January 14, 2014 at 8:29 AM

Not to mention, antifederalist forgets to mention the last time the Obama Party was in power when ultra-super genius Hillary! and her CIA lover Valerie Plame swore up and down that North Korea had no nukes and was never building nukes and that anyone who said otherwise was a Jew-loving neocon warmonger.

Because facts are clearly to the contrary.
For some strange reason, the same CIA dominated by Obama Party operatives like Valerie Plame who slanted intelligence for political purposes ignored data that didn’t fit the Obama Party narrative.
northdallasthirty on January 14, 2014 at 8:44 AM

Good grief, talk about slanting intelligence for political purposes (remember Iraq?) Since you are distrustful of the latest National Intelligence Estimate, how about considering that it largely reaffirms the 2007 NIE, which was issues back when George W Bush was in office. How do you plan on blaming Obama now?

And Al Qaeda is on the run and GM is thriving. I don’t know if you’ve been a coma for the last five years or not but one thing is absolute fact. Obama is a liar. A lazy shiftless stupid liar. He just shucks and jives through life with a media willing to hide the true depths of his ignorance and extent of his lies.
Happy Nomad on January 14, 2014 at 8:42 AM

So Obama is a liar but William Kristol, Dick Chaney, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Bolton, John Podhoertz, the staffs of The Weekly Standard and National Review, are all paragons of truth whose pronouncement concerning Middle Eastern countries possessing WMDs should never be question despite the fact that they all lied about Iraq possessing WMDs.

So Obama is a liar but William Kristol, Dick Chaney, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Bolton, John Podhoertz, the staffs of The Weekly Standard and National Review, are all paragons of truth whose pronouncement concerning Middle Eastern countries possessing WMDs should never be question despite the fact that they all lied about Iraq possessing WMDs.

Translation; The One and JFKook don’t want anyone outside of the headshed to know just how far down the river they’ve sold us and the West. (It’s not just about Israel anymore, no matter what our resident concern trolls believe.)

Our relationship w/ the world is based on Iranian the German nation’s interests. In #Genevathe Munich agreement world powers surrendered to Iranianthe German nation’s will

Is Iran closer or farther away from having the capability to make a technically feasible nuclear device than they were 30, 20, 10, or 5 years ago?
Will you allow that they might be closer?
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on January 14, 2014 at 10:05 AM

They would undoubtedly be closer. But there is a difference between having the technical capability and having the intent to not just build a nuclear weapon but actually deploy it is a different matter. So far, by the accounts I have read, they haven’t enriched beyond 20%, which they are permitted to do under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

Good grief, talk about slanting intelligence for political purposes (remember Iraq?) Since you are distrustful of the latest National Intelligence Estimate, how about considering that it largely reaffirms the 2007 NIE, which was issues back when George W Bush was in office. How do you plan on blaming Obama now?
antifederalist on January 14, 2014 at 9:08 AM

That’s easy.

One, as Plame conclusively showed, the CIA is made up primarily of paid Obama Party operatives who deliberately slant intelligence in favor of the Obama Party position, which is enabling Iran to have nukes and wipe Israel off the map.

Two, as Obama regularly screams, the President is never responsible for anything anyone in the government has done, so Bush thus cannot be held accountable.

Is it even legal to conduct and agree to treaties with other nations in secret? – paulsur on January 14, 2014 at 10:39 AM

Since when does the law apply to the Obama administration? I wish I was being facetious. They have the arrogance to ignore the law with impugnity, and they have the press on their side who will hide it from the public. And there is no opposition with the right to call itself such.

What’s this clandestine nuclear weapons program that you are referring to? According to US intelligence, Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been dormant since 2003 and that Iran hasn’t made any decision to pursue a nuclear weapon. Why is this fact always omitted in Hot Air’s headlines?

1. Regarding the Munich Agreement, the British Chiefs of Staff told Chamberlain to buy at least one year to prepare for war with Germany. He did, and nobly took his secret to his grave.

No one could have been expected to have known this in 1940, but now it’s kind of common knowledge (though apparently not common enough). So “Chamberlain at Munich” is sort of a passe catch phrase for appeasement.

2. If two divergent US administrations have affirmed that there is no Iranian bomb program, it behooves you to present some evidence contradicting them if you want to be taken seriously.